Today I advertise “An Unusual Encounter of the Rock Star Kind”, a contemporary paranormal romance novella, the blurb for which reads as follows:

“A chance encounter with the lead singer of a rock band leaves Cassandra rapt with anticipation. Les is everything that the young nurse has ever dreamed of – and the sexy drummer from Boston is even hotter up close in person! He is apologetic for accidentally knocking her to the frozen Winnipeg sidewalk, yet she barely feels the ice and snow with all the heat that is rushing through her core.

Cassandra wonders if his invitation to supper is as innocent as it seems. Is it his way of saying ‘sorry’, or the beginning of something more? She finds herself wondering: just how far is this encounter going to go?

More than that, she wonders: what will be for dessert?”

Rating: SPICY-Graphic language, one sex scene.

Genre: Contemporary Paranormal Romance.

This little novella has been a point of contention between myself and my editor at New Concepts Publishing. I felt that the tale should be told in present tense, first person. They felt that it was fine in its original version, of mixed present tense and past tense, as they felt that a story must be told in past tense, not moment by moment.

I wrote this piece entirely as a writing exercise, to flex my nubulous literary muscles (read: amateur finger flexes, ten thousand word repetitions). I wanted to test the waters, to try different tenses and see what the end result would be.

The end product? A product that my editors seemed thrilled with (thrilled enough to publish), but something that I feel is a touch awkward in its current state.

I guess the only way I’ll know for sure whether “An Unusual Encounter of the Rock Star Kind” is a hit or a miss is through book sales and love or hate mail as a direct result of that audience…

Either way, whether it sinks or swims, I welcome your critique, comments, and constructive criticism on the latter.

“To the wizard, Sebastian Cole, it was a simple plan: steal his true love away to a world where they could be alone, together, to realize that love. There was one underlying condition: the enchantment would end only when she professed love for him.

To Alanna, proud daughter of Lord Fowler, it was a fool’s plan. No matter what her attraction to the mysterious and gifted Sebastian Cole, she would never love him—never! Certainly not under duress…or would she?

With patience, and persistence, Sebastian shows Alanna many of the wonders of his magical world—from the fantasy creatures living among them, to the delight of his touch, the passion of his kiss… Alanna’s interest in the wizard grows, but to what end? Will her true love set them free?”

………I have decided that I am going to query Ellora’s Cave books about my post-apocalyptic novella about Ana, the Amazon-like warrioress, her remote jungle home and the enigmatic fertility researcher who happens upon her exsquisite nude form as she is taking an afternoon swim after a long – and successful – hunt.

Wow. That was a mouthful. Try saying that really fast – you are guaranteed to run out of breath. My fabulous high school English teacher Mr. Ortwein once informed me in as gentle a manner possible that I am at times guilty of run-away (or run-on?) sentences like the one above. He did this in the cutest way: he drew a little run-away train going off the tracks saying “choo-choo” to give emphasis to his point.

Suffice to say, I remember this lesson well and as a result am now apologizing for the run-away train sentence you read, as well as any you may read in the future on this blog – or in my novels.

Back to the whole point of THIS post.

I am going to query Ellora’s Cave Books about Ana’s story (the title of which I soon have to decide on). It is an interracial/multi-racial sexy romp that I hope they will find delightfully intriguing. It is my hope that Ellora’s will pick up this title so that I can build a relationship and reputation with them for future work.

I am doing this not because I am entirely or largely dissatisfied with my other two publishers, Extasy Books and New Concepts Publishing, but because Ellora’s Cave seems to have a fabulous reputation, a large following/readership and will potentially offer greater exposure for moi, the amateur authoress Amanda M. Holt (or my chosen pen name).

Now, I pose this question to any who might listen and offer an opinion: should I query Ellora’s Cave with the suggestion that I publish Ana’s story under my own name – Amanda M. Holt – or publish Ana’s story under a pen name (such as Alexandra Gayle, the nom de plume that I am just ITCHING to use, as it is a combination of the names of both of my Godparents).

What to do, what to do?

Please advise.

Sincere regards,

Amanda M. Holt

p.s. – for those of you who don’t know what a query letter is, it can be best described as A) A query letter is a formal letter sent to magazine editors, literary agents and sometimes publishing houses or companies (Wikipedia definition) and B) A brief written presentation to an agent or editor designed to pitch both the writer and the book idea (definition from brochure-design.com )…C) a query letter basically asks if a publishing house would be interested in seeing your work (or a sample of your work — my simplest definition)…Now here I go, aiming to find time in my Nursing Student schedule to pen an attention-grabbing query letter!

Lil ol’ me

I'm a published Canadian author of contemporary and paranormal romance and erotica (eBooks thus far!), aspiring to become a household horror icon...There's a lot of writer's anxiety and elbow grease (or rather, risk of developing carpal tunnel) that precedes getting published - and this is my blog all about it!